|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
- Shows how each of us has a role in the oppression of others, and what we can do about it
- Offers a way to overcome racism on a very intimate level
- Outlines specific guidelines and suggested activities
Are you a racist? Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Overcoming Racism on a Multicultural Level,
By "mlynnette" (Woodstock, GA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation (Hardcover)
There is no greater healing for the spirit than the healing of the divisions within ourselves. This is the huge task taken on deftly by Derald Wing Sue in Overcoming Our Racism. The book is addressed directly to white people though it is beneficial to anyone interested in improving race relations. Sue calls to task those white people who are unintentional racists, those people who have unconsciously bought into and act out racist ideas in subtle ways. He does an excellent job of outlining what white privilege is and how all white people benefit from it. In relating the pain people of color suffer, he illuminates the pain that is caused for white people when they are confronted with their whiteness. Most white people are in denial of their "whiteness" because of the unpleasant truths they would have to face. Sue shows that all of us (meaning white people too) defining ourselves as racial/cultural beings is instrumental to overcoming racism.Throughout the book, Sue states that the (white) reader might get angry, feel guilty or experience unpleasant feelings. He encourages the reader to go through the process to the end for the rewards are great. Sue explains that while people of color have soul wounds connected to racism, white people do too. Racism keeps white people from seeing what is real. While people of color have prejudices, white people have the power to use their prejudices to oppress others. In oppressing others, they create for themselves an undeniable advantage that they keep in denial. And they deny themselves of the experience of being all that they can be by denying this right to people of color. Instead of seeing a person of color for who he or she really is, a white person tends to rely on the false perceptions they form from the media and their environment. Most people of color are forced to interact with white people on a daily basis, while most white rarely deal with people of color on an equal-to-equal basis. While most white people do not actively engage themselves in getting to know or understand people of color, most people of color understand white people as a matter of survival. Racism is defined in distinct and concrete terms. For people of color, institutional racism is obvious. For white people, because they benefit directly from institutional racism, they are complacent about doing anything to change it. Sue's book is divided into two parts. Part One clearly defines the problem while Part Two outlines how to overcome the problem. The keys to changing the effects of racism lie in the hands of white people. It will take a great amount of inner work on the part of white people for there to be real change. Overcoming Our Racism is a handbook for doing this work. Derald Wing Sue is an Asian American professor. He moves the focus of racism from being black/white to being a truly multicultural discussion. The subtitle of this book says it all: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews) 23 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Overcoming Racism on a Multicultural Level,
By "mlynnette" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation (Hardcover)
There is no greater healing for the spirit than the healing of the divisions within ourselves. This is the huge task taken on deftly by Derald Wing Sue in Overcoming Our Racism. The book is addressed directly to white people though it is beneficial to anyone interested in improving race relations. Sue calls to task those white people who are unintentional racists, those people who have unconsciously bought into and act out racist ideas in subtle ways. He does an excellent job of outlining what white privilege is and how all white people benefit from it. In relating the pain people of color suffer, he illuminates the pain that is caused for white people when they are confronted with their whiteness. Most white people are in denial of their "whiteness" because of the unpleasant truths they would have to face. Sue shows that all of us (meaning white people too) defining ourselves as racial/cultural beings is instrumental to overcoming racism.Throughout the book, Sue states that the (white) reader might get angry, feel guilty or experience unpleasant feelings. He encourages the reader to go through the process to the end for the rewards are great. Sue explains that while people of color have soul wounds connected to racism, white people do too. Racism keeps white people from seeing what is real. While people of color have prejudices, white people have the power to use their prejudices to oppress others. In oppressing others, they create for themselves an undeniable advantage that they keep in denial. And they deny themselves of the experience of being all that they can be by denying this right to people of color. Instead of seeing a person of color for who he or she really is, a white person tends to rely on the false perceptions they form from the media and their environment. Most people of color are forced to interact with white people on a daily basis, while most white rarely deal with people of color on an equal-to-equal basis. While most white people do not actively engage themselves in getting to know or understand people of color, most people of color understand white people as a matter of survival. Racism is defined in distinct and concrete terms. For people of color, institutional racism is obvious. For white people, because they benefit directly from institutional racism, they are complacent about doing anything to change it. Sue's book is divided into two parts. Part One clearly defines the problem while Part Two outlines how to overcome the problem. The keys to changing the effects of racism lie in the hands of white people. It will take a great amount of inner work on the part of white people for there to be real change. Overcoming Our Racism is a handbook for doing this work. Derald Wing Sue is an Asian American professor. He moves the focus of racism from being black/white to being a truly multicultural discussion. The subtitle of this book says it all: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation 10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Book,
By A. Schaefer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation (Hardcover)
As a white male working in a student affairs office at a very diverse community college it is important that I take a good long look at myself to be sure I am serving our students the best way I can. This book is incredibly helpful in doing that. Did I get pissed off at things Mr. Sue talked about? Yes, of course. But he does warn his readers that they will get angry. I only got angry because I didn't want to believe what he was saying was about me, but it is. This book taught me a lot about myself, which I think is the point. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is willing to keep an open mind and is willing to go through some self evaluation.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
A solution that looks too much like the problem,
By Kandarin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation (Hardcover)
One of the problems that this book addresses is the fact that quite a lot of white people have a hard time comprehending others' attachment to a strong racial and/or ethnic identity. Since so few use whiteness as a source of identity (and those that do are usually loathsome!), white folks like myself are inclined to see something suspicious in celebration of, say, black culture or Latino community. This is compounded by decades of violent history and harsh rhetoric, a culture that encourages contemptible treatment of immigrants, and (let's face it) quite a lot of smoldering class conflict. I'd go on more about these things, but the book does a better job of it than I could.Unfortunately, Dr. Sue's analysis of the problem and the solution falls prey to a similar myopia, but in another direction. The book is unwilling to take seriously the possibility that some people may truly not want a strongly asserted racial identity. Instead, it zeroes in on theories and anecdotes suggesting that (usually but not exclusively white) desires for a post-racial identity are dangerously self-deceptive at best and a cynical cover for sinister motives at worst. Sue asserts that white people really do have a complex set of cultural ideas associated with whiteness that they rarely question or consciously think about. While I can't really argue with that (and some of the examples the book cites as evidence hit hard), Sue's reasoning becomes dubious when he argues that the inevitable outcome of honestly confronting and questioning those assumptions is the creation of a (non-racist, but...) strongly asserted white identity. Just as many white people can't understand why others would want to overtly embrace black, Latino, etc. identity, this book can't understand how anyone could consciously question the subconscious beliefs of their society and afterwards still be uninterested in an overtly asserted racial self-identification. Reasons for avoiding such white self-identification are caricatured when they are mentioned at all, and the possibility that some may avoid them for their role in getting us all into this mess is not given consideration. While many of the problems addressed in this book are real and serious, the solution that it advocates lies too close to the problem. |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Social Psychology & Interactions
- Books > History > Americas > United States > African Americans > Discrimination & Racism
- Books > History > United States > African Americans > Discrimination & Racism
- Books > New & Used Textbooks
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Discrimination & Racism
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Race Relations
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Minority Studies
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
|
